EV maker Arrival to build high-voltage battery module assembly plant in North Carolina

Arrival, the electric vehicle manufacturer that aims to break up the assembly line in favor of multiple microfactories, is investing $11.5 million to build a high-voltage battery module assembly plant in Charlotte, North Carolina. The plant will provide batteries for electric buses and vans produced at the company’s microfactories in Rock Hill, South Carolina and […]

Uber spinout Serve Robotics gets $13M seed round to expand sidewalk robot deliveries

Serve Robotics, the autonomous sidewalk delivery company that spun out from Uber-owned Postmates in March, has closed an expanded seed round at $13 million. The company will use the funds to accelerate its expansion plans into new customer segments and geographic areas, which will require them to build more sidewalk robots to fuel that growth. […]

GM delays production of new Chevy Bolt EVs until end of January

General Motors will continue to delay production of new Chevrolet Bolt EVs at the company’s Orion assembly plant in Michigan “through the week of Jan. 24, 2022,” the company said in a statement emailed to TechCrunch on Thursday. The automaker said it would instead “continue to focus on battery module replacements” for tens of thousands […]

Moovit partners with smart cane company WeWALK to enhance mobility for visually impaired

Intel-owned Moovit, a mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) provider with a globally popular trip planning app, has partnered with WeWALK, a smart cane company, to help visually impaired people reach their destinations safer and more efficiently. WeWALK’s app will now be integrated with Moovit’s Transit API, which combines official local transit agency information with crowdsourced information to get […]

Uber intros several safety features, including one that records audio during a ride

Uber is adding several new safety features to its app, including an audio reminder to riders to wear their seat belts, allowing riders or drivers to record audio during rides, and detection of unexpected route changes or stops before the final destination. The updates are designed to help both riders and drivers feel safer during […]

Segway makes its first foray into sidewalk robot delivery with Coco partnership

Segway sees a future for sidewalk delivery robots and is now preparing to be the burgeoning industry’s go-to manufacturer. The company, which has supplied electric scooters for almost all of the major shared micromobility operators, is partnering with Los Angeles-based delivery robot startup Coco to build 1,000 partially automated, remotely piloted sidewalk robots. Coco will begin deploying […]

Key executives resign after Pony.ai combines trucking and passenger car R&D units

Pony.ai, the self-driving startup that operates in both the U.S. and China, has lost at least two executives from its trucking team following the combination of the company’s passenger car and self-driving truck R&D teams. The development, initially detailed by two sources familiar with the internal restructure that happened quietly in September, was later confirmed […]

Waymo Via expands UPS partnership to include autonomous freight with Class 8 trucks

Waymo Via, the delivery division of Alphabet’s self-driving arm, is expanding its existing partnership with UPS to carry freight via autonomous Class 8 trucks. The six-week pilot, which kicked off last week and will continue until the end of the year to support the holiday season, takes place in Texas between Houston and Dallas-Forth Worth. […]

Bird’s first public earnings show missed Q3 revenue, but potential for full-year growth

Today after the bell, scooter-sharing company Bird disclosed its third-quarter earnings, the first time it has done so as a public company. Bird recently merged with a SPAC, bringing cash and public-status to the formerly private unicorn. In the third quarter, Bird’s revenues missed expectations, but given an expanded global footprint and an expectation that […]